Joanne Sterns

The doe eyed look didn't fool anyone.

"So you're using your own daughter to emotionally blackmail me?"

"In a New York minute, you can pick us up at one we will be waiting on the porch for you."

One of Joanne's students came in then and she quickly peeled herself off of her seat by the counter to start her lesson. She left when her student left leaving with a wave and a grin on her face. I had all of Saturday to stew on this and what to do about it, finally resigning myself to doing my laundry a day early.

At five to one I pulled up outside Jason's house. She opened the rear passenger door, slid a picnic basket in and then sat in the front seat her smile bigger than a Cheshire cat.

"Is it worth asking where said traumatized seven year old is?"

"Oh I forgot to tell you, Jason and Andrea have taken her out for the day."

For the first time since I had arrived in town a dark mood started to descend on me.

"I don't take kindly to being ambushed Joanne."

She reached across and placed her hand on my thigh, watching me for a moment before she spoke again.

"That was apparent to me by the way you lead your life now. She did a real number on you didn't she. Come on, we are going to the park and compare notes, the loser gets to eat the only piece of apple pie I have in the basket."

My initial thought was to say no and leave. Yet something inside me knew I could trust her, we did seem to be growing close if the conversations we had in the shop was anything to go by, so I put the car into gear and an hour later we were sitting at a bench in the park our picnic spread out between us and talked about work, Becky and the town until a single piece of apple pie sat between us.

"Don't even think I'm going to flip a coin to see who goes first. I've done all the hard work so far in getting you here, just remember we have an apple pie at stake here so don't leave anything out."

I had seen that serious face before when she had a difficult student or a computer problem still left to solve and ten minutes left to get Becky from school. I grabbed my bottle of water and started from the beginning through to prom night and on to college, the rumors and our marriage and then my life slowly turning to shit when Karen came back and the niggling doubts that caused me to check a few things out.

Culminating in even knowing what day I was going to be ambushed along with the disappearance of our money from the bank. How I drifted for a while so the divorce could go through and Beth's refusal to sign until we sat down and I talked to her.

"Why didn't you want to talk to her?"

"Because it was a lie. She was never going to sign the paperwork all she was doing was justifying her relationship with Karen and push me into agreeing with it. If I didn't then the divorce was going to be for me to do not her."

"Was Karen open to you being involved in the relationship?"

I shrugged my shoulders and took another drink from the bottle.

"It's irrelevant whether she was or wasn't. I didn't marry Karen I married Beth, if Beth had doubts then right about the time I asked her to marry me should have been the time to tell me. Beth brought Karen into our relationship and expected me to get over it and besides I think you got something wrong, Karen was Beth's girlfriend there relationship was exclusive to them."

"So in effect you could look but you couldn't touch?"

"More like have my nose rubbed in it and told to deal with it."

Joanne sat and stared at me for a moment before her hand slid the pie across to me.

"He cheated on me with my sister, got bored with her and then turned to our neighbor for comfort. When I figured it out the shouting match that followed was a futile exercise in marriage guidance. I walked and took Becky with me, the papers for the divorce landed at the door on Tuesday."

"So you're single now, congratulations."

"Yep, all we have to do now is get your divorce sorted so I can marry you."

This time I slid the pie across to Joanne.

"First off I've spent close to two years avoiding the bitch and second when did I suddenly became boyfriend material?"

The pie was placed back into the centre of the table once again.

"So you will take this body and give me copious amounts of orgasms, yet you won't give my daughter our name. That's not very chivalrous of you."

"I can state for a fact I know where all my bodily parts have been and know for a fact they haven't been inside you."

And there it was. That look as she slowly swung the door shut on me. Joanne had that look on her face, like a cat holding a mouse down by its paw and had now got bored of playing with it, to the cat it was now time to eat the mouse. Her hand once again pushed the pie across to me.

"Eat up, you're going to need your strength."

*******

I woke with the sun in my eyes, her body across mine with her head resting on my chest. Joanne giggled, raised her head and opened her eyes.

"I knew you were awake. Once you realized I was still here your heart rate was going a mile a minute."

Joanne swung her leg over me and stared down at me the grin on her face giving away her contentment.

"At the moment your cum is leaking out of me and onto your stomach. Its mine, you gave it to me so I'm keeping it. However I'm willing to come back and get it later since I know you're just itching to bury your face in my pussy, and who am I to stop you."

I couldn't help but laugh that soon stopped when she squatted over the same spot she was just sat on and placed her hands on her pussy lips and pulled them apart, a single dribble escaped her and came to a stop in the middle of the small puddle of cum now on my stomach.

"Sorry honey, I thought I could come back to this but I'm a little thirsty so you're ravishing of my pussy will have to wait a moment ok?"

Rather than wait for a reply although I was so speechless by her action I'm not sure I would have been able to say much. Joanne run the palm of her hand the full length of her pussy, stood and licked her hand as she turned around and knelt back down again to lick the cum off my stomach. The picture of her shaved pubic bone and navel as both danced inches above my head meant I was as hard as steel.

Her tongue was exquisite torture as she ran it over my stomach. Joanne's hand snaked along my hip and wrapped itself around my cock pulling the skin back and forth. Balls of light burst in front of my eyes, this assault on my senses seemed to culminate in one single drop of our combined cum that slipped from her blood engorged pussy and landed on my forehead.

My hands went to her ass cheeks and my fingers dug into the pleasurable flesh and pushed her down until that beautiful sexually bloated cum leaking flesh was within my mouths reach. Her warmth devoured my cock as my own mouth feasted on her pussy lips. The sounds being made between us only adding to our own heightened sexual frenzy, we each teased the other forcing us each to bathe in each electrode that pulsed up our body.

This wasn't a race yet we both wanted the other to feel the intensity of this very moment. Joanne was close her scent now became all pervasive. She quivered and moaned, her legs moved to press against my head. Finally a fresh wetness leaked from her pussy to herald the peak her pussy was sending her body.

She shuddered one more time before my mouth opened and sucked in her clit. I pushed a finger deep into her ass and instinctively her body clamped down trying desperately to hold onto that pleasure. Joanne's head came away from my cock as her orgasm tore through her body and out her mouth in the shape of a scream. My own cum washing her tits as she continued to move her hand up and down my cock.

Joanne rolled off and lay next to me, her body still pressed against mine as we both panted our way back to calmness again.

"Damn that was fun, I'm sure glad we eventually went halves on the apple pie. Honey I need to shower so I need someone to wash my back for me. Think you have any energy left?"

"Not much but is it only your back you want washing?"

The giggle came next, her body came into view a second later. My God what a beautiful woman she was, her hair was all matted and disheveled, she was still pulling air into her lungs making her tits stand out even more than they usually do. Her nipples hadn't yet lost their tightness, now sat up, my cum found the impetus to run down her tits and cleavage. The well fucked look made her more beautiful than even I thought she was.

"Honey if you have the energy to do more than that then feel free, I will remonstrate with myself later for not completely exhausting you."

There was something about her that made me pay attention, I turned towards her and rested on my arm. My hand went to her cheek and I held it there. She leaned into it for a moment before the hard lines along her jaw mellowed and she smiled.

Although concerned about her behavior, all I could ask was. "Are you ok?"

For a moment she paused before finding her voice once again.

"The day Becky walked into your shop was probably the best day I've had in awhile. In one conversation you put right what I needed to get right, I had a job and through that job I've made loads of friends."

This time she held herself back, the anguish that she was doing that, clear on her face. Her hand came up to collect mine and rest it on her thigh.

"Mark I've been knocking on the door to your heart for sometime now, honey its cold out here. You've gotta let me in, were not all Beth's or Karen's. Some of us only want one man to love all there lives, I've found mine but I can't love him like I want to because his chained down to a woman who doesn't want him."

My stomach felt like lead, the only thing I felt was loathing, I had brought this on myself and it took Joanne to show me. I sat up and she met me halfway, pushing herself onto me and forcing me onto my back as her body lay on top of mine as much of her skin connected to mine. And we cried, perhaps for different reasons but the outcome was the same.

We held onto each other and for so long neither one of us were going to let go. When Joanne said she needed to pee she had difficulty pulling her chest off of mine, my cum acted like glue. That's when the mood changed and the giggles started I warmed the shower while she emptied her bladder, it was difficult at first and she kept looking toward me, finally she knew I wasn't moving so she let go and as she peed her face went an interesting shade of red.

"You're embarrassed?"

"I guess I shouldn't be, you've had your face down there several times over the afternoon and evening. Are you going to make a habit of this though?"

"Now I know you're uncomfortable about it I would say probably not. When you're done the shower is ready."

Joanne suddenly stood up. The residue of her bathroom break trickling down her thigh, she didn't even notice. As I looked at her she was clearly angry.

"Don't you dare start closing me out after I've spent so much time getting you to here. We explore and find out about things, we are both new to this remember, you and Beth grew up finding out about each other I got you as a crushed adult who wanted to hide from life. Well guess what buddy the life you need is staring right back at you."

When I nodded I knew it wasn't enough so I held her close to me and said sorry. A word I used a lot around Joanne over the next few months, we stumbled and skidded along in our relationship. She was systematic in her dismantling of the wall I hid behind. Even the townsfolk were surprised when they saw me smile or laugh.

*******

In my mind we were getting along just nicely, Joanne put me straight on that thinking when she stepped out of the shop for a moment and came back with a little white box in her hand and a fork.

"I've been giving this some thought. Oh eat up I read somewhere that you should never have a shock to your system on an empty stomach."

Joanne waited until I finished before she sprung it on me.

"I want you to invite Danny and his family here for the holiday weekend."

"Well that was a waste of good pie because that ain't happening."

For a moment she glared at me, and then sighed before she sat down again.

"I would threaten to shut you off for sex but your good at it and I would loose out as well. Look Mark, you haven't seen him since you walked away from Beth, you have cut your own brother off for something she did not him. At least pitch the idea to him and see what he says, please."

It was like Joanne was joined to me at the hip for the next hour, in the end she wore me down and I sent an e-mail just so I could get my own shadow back. What I got back made Joanne blush slightly but she still stood her ground.

'Already packed bro, got the e-mail from Joanne last night and the wife and her have been talking to each other most of the damn morning. I'm not getting any work done on the yard because she keeps coming out and keeping me up to date.'

The word ambushed was turning out to be Joanne's middle name. I watched her for the time it took to stop wringing her hands and find the courage to answer, perhaps this was one of those defining moments between us.

"You left your e-mail open last night so I just happened to find Danny's address and the rest sort of happened."

"Are you ever going to let any of this go?"

"Nope, you know my end game, I still have a traumatized daughter with a last name that she doesn't want, what's a mother supposed to do in situations like that?"

Even I had to laugh at her answer. I put a note on the shop window for the rest of the day telling folks that I was shut for the holiday weekend. Danny and his wife arrived Saturday afternoon he cussed me up and down for taking so damn long getting my head straight and finding the right woman to help me.

His wife was slightly more subtle about it but not by much, she just went into a huddle with Joanne and swapped secrets that slowly leaked into the conversation throughout the holiday. It was good to see them both and I was saddened to see them leave at the end of the holiday, Danny couldn't help but smile when he watched us wave them goodbye with my hand stuck firmly in Joanne's.

*******

Since that weekend Danny's wife and Joanne always seemed to be on the phone to each other. E-mails still kept my brother and me up to date and both of us set about taking bets on Joanne's next move. It seemed my brother won the bet and it did get me wondering if his own wife gave him the heads up.

Joanne went for a walk between students and came back with two white boxes. Well if nothing else I was keeping the diner in funds for the apple pie that got sold out of that place. She sat down and pushed a box over to me and handed me a fork.

"What's on your mind, Joanne?"

"Well I've been thinking, you may want to hire yourself a lawyer."

As we sat and had our apple pie she told me what was on her mind. A couple of times I lost my appetite but she kept on going, it became clear to me that she had already done some talking to a lawyer. When she had finished I told her I would think about it. She went home and kept out of my way that night, she didn't talk about our conversation the next day either.

I phoned Danny the next evening and talked to him, he listened and told me he could see why Joanne had said what she had but at the end of the day it was down to me. We talked some more and before he went he told me that I had trusted Beth all my life and look what that got me. Joanne didn't have a hidden agenda everything she planned to do was said to my face.

Trying to sleep that night was a waste of time, in the end I decided to call Joanne, she wasn't too pleased that I called her at five in the morning but we talked and got most of it out in the open. She promised to come in early that morning, something about she was up anyway. I was at the lawyers when he opened and he sat and listened to what I wanted, he then grabbed a coffee and we started again.

By the end of an hour I had effectively sold the shop to Joanne for a dollar. As I put pen to paper I didn't even pause to think about it, Joanne noticed and smiled yet even as she smiled her eyes watered up. Even she remembered the man who first offered her a job and the time it had taken to drag him to this point. I loved Joanne hell I told her every day and if she was real nice even twice a day.

Beth had destroyed my trust, we had shared everything all our lives and she didn't see fit to tell me about her and Karen. With both of them in that kitchen at the same time it was clear to see that they wanted nothing more than capitulation on my part, not understanding. The cleaning out of our account was a clear sign that even she knew she wouldn't get it.

Yet this woman sat next to me, who I willingly gave everything too made me realize that I could love and trust again. Joanne told me straight what she planed to do and then set out to do just that. To the world I was just this side of broke, once the divorce was over I would truly be the richest man in the world. Unconditional love has no price it's measured in acts of tenderness and copious amounts of smiles.

That's what the woman sat next to me offered, all I needed to do was place a ring on her finger and the pain of the last few years would ease and slowly die. She would see to that, it was her promise to me only said in actions not just words. All my worldly goods were once again two suitcases of clothes and a couple of hundred dollars in the bank. Yet my heart told me I was far richer than that.

*******

My old lawyer recognized me as I strolled through the door. I told him to start divorce proceedings again and put irreconcilable differences as the reason. He asked where I was living and he put down Danny's as my address, she was served at work and again refused to sign until I met with her.

She spent a couple of days looking for me and eventually knocked on Danny's door. He let her in and Beth tried rushed over to me with her arms out getting ready to hug me. My hand to her chest stopped her real quick.

"What did you do that for, you know I love you, it's been too long. Have you come back to live with me?"

Even Danny laughed as he disappeared into the kitchen.

"Nope, I want the divorce you promised me."

Beth shook her head and sat down on the couch.

"Mark I didn't promise you a divorce, I love you."

I pulled over a file I've had with me since we had this last conversation.

"This is an e-mail from you to Karen telling her that you would insist on a divorce if I didn't give in to you bedding Karen."

She looked at it, recognized it instantly and went ever so slightly pale.

"It was a hollow threat honey. You and me have been together since we were able to crawl across the rug together."

"Yes, and as soon as you grew hair on your pussy you decided that Karen was also the girl for you. Call me selfish Beth but I married you and Karen wasn't mentioned. So you want her you can have her, just give me a divorce so I can get on with living."

This time she stood and handed me back the piece of paper.

"I can't do that honey, I love you both and I aim to keep you both. If you fight me on this I may have to ruin you and then take you back so please save yourself the pain and come home."

That was the last I saw of Beth until the court hearing she got real upset when my worldly goods were one car, six hundred dollars in the bank and two suitcases of clothes. The judge gave me my divorce once I shot down the plea for counseling.

"Judge what's the point of counseling? She cheated with another woman and now I have to go to counseling to save a marriage that the last time I looked was supposed to be man and wife. Not man, wife and her girlfriend, just out of curiosity, who would turn up Beth and Karen or just Beth."